It is well known in the art how to make sulphuric acid. From the alchemists laboratories in the seventeenth century, manufacturing processes expanded into what is now commonly called the chamber process. Although the chamber process is still in commercial use, in more recent times the contact process has gained favor. In both processes the basic raw material is sulphur dioxide in gaseous form. For the chamber process sulphur dioxide is introduced into large lead-lined chambers where it reacts with oxygen, water vapor and nitric oxide to produce sulphuric acid which settles out onto the floor of the chamber. In the contact process a sulphur dioxide-air mixture, in the presence of a catalyst, further oxidizes into sulphur trioxide which reacts with water to form sulphuric acid. Since this reaction can proceed with explosive violence, sulphur trioxide normally is dissolved in concentrated sulphuric acid resulting in fuming sulphuric acid. Sulphuric acid of the desired concentration is made by adding an appropriate amount of water to the fuming sulphuric acid. Both processes require bulky towers, numerous processing steps, and are plagued with operating problems such as acid mists and the like.
A considerable improvement over the prior art can be made by conducting the oxidation and reaction steps in a wet environment. Such an arrangement affords a more compact manufacturing facility with attendant reductions in capital investment. Other improvements include shortened start-up and shut-down times for the manufacturing facility, improved safety, elimination of acid mists, elimination of undesirable affluents to the atmosphere, and the like.
It is an object of the present invention to teach methods of manufacturing sulphuric acid by wet oxidation of sulphur with further reaction into sulphuric acid in a wet environment within a closed circuit. It is an object of the present invention to capture the generated heat apart from the reactions for further useful work. Other objects, capabilities and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.